Bournemouth v Wolves preview – Bruno Lage calling on Wolves spirit in search for victory
Wolves boss Bruno Lage believes travelling to Bournemouth is always a difficult task but has called on his players to play with ‘spirit’ and find their first win.
The head coach is still searching for his first victory of the Premier League season, following the 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle.
They now arrive on the south coast to play a Bournemouth side that have just lost 9-0 to Liverpool and subsequently sacked manager Scott Parker.
When asked if that heavy defeat makes them more difficult to play tonight, Lage said: “It’s not more difficult. They conceded nine goals but they have more points than us.
“I know their place and it’s a hard place to play, but we’ll have the same spirit as we did at Tottenham and Leeds to play our game.
“If I was on their side, I’d say ‘OK we conceded nine but forget that game – let’s put all our energy into this match’.
“That’s what I will do with our game against Newcastle – forget about it and focus on the next one.
“We have had time to recover and we go with full energy to play against them.”
When asked how managers react to a heavy defeat and lift their players, Lage added: “I know it’s strange to say, but you try to not mention that – it’s in the past.
“You know these kind of games can happen. They took nine at Liverpool, we took five here against Manchester City last season – sometimes that’s the situation.
“I saw the goals and it’s like every shot Liverpool had, they scored.
“They were great goals. But something similar happened to us three or four months ago against Man City – every shot Kevin De Bruyne had, he scored an amazing goal.
“These kind of amazing things can happen if strong teams are on their game against any opponents.
“In Portugal, I wasn’t part of it but my team once had a 10-goal win. If you score two or three goals after 15, 20 minutes, after that, you can score six, seven, eight, nine or 10.
“I think it’s important to move on. I know it’s hard to take, but it’s just one game and it’s still three points, so you need to move on.
“It’s like us on Sunday – we ended up with one point after losing a ‘goal’ and it’s hard to take in that situation, but you need to move on.”
Wolves are currently desperate for a win as the fans become unsettled at the difficult start to the campaign
Although Lage hints at the pressure to pick up a win, he again insists that he needs time to work with the squad.
Lage said: “Every game is a chance to get points, so the pressure is on us to get points to get to a comfortable spot. But for us the time is more important for us to understand the kind of work we’re doing. Any manager – especially us – doesn’t have the time he’d like to prepare the team because we need that time. But we will go with full energy and a big ambition to go there and win.”
